Page 88 of Swords of Soul and Shadow (Gate Chronicles #3)

Hallie swallowed her candy and stood. Maybe she could wait to analyze their conversation later and determine what her next steps would be.

She didn’t think everything was ending in the next few hours.

She could decide what to do about Kase tomorrow.

For tonight, she could pretend it was all fine in the world. “Let’s dance, Master Pilot.”

Kase’s entire face shone as he grabbed her hand and dragged her to where her parents and the others were still dancing.

The music was happy and bright, and Kase’s arms were around her as they spun around the fire, interweaving with the other couples. His laughter was full of the sunshine she hadn’t properly seen in days, not a single shadow of his past to dim it. She hoped hers matched.

Music flitted around the dancers like wind through the forest trees, light and lilting, rich and dulcet. She sang half the words, not knowing them all or caring to remember them from her sketchbook notes. Even if she had, the dancing left her too out of breath to sing them all.

“Didn’t realize you had a voice,” Kase said, eyebrow raised as he spun her around with one hand holding hers tightly, the other lightly skimming her waist. “I’m disappointed this is my first time hearing you sing, even if I can’t understand a single word.”

“It’s not nice to tease,” she said with a laugh.

Kase wrapped his arm around her waist and dipped her low, and her breath left her chest. He whipped her back up and spun.

She panted. “That’s not part of the dance!”

“Then teach me, birdy.”

“Birdy?”

He turned the dance into a sort of ridiculously stiff tango, which did not go with the beat in the slightest. “For songbird. Not my best work, I’ll admit.”

“And why is that?”

He pulled her so close, she could scarcely breathe. He bent down, his lips close to her ear. “Well, I’m a bit distracted.”

“Oh, really?” she asked, trying not to shiver as his lips didn’t move from her ear.

“I’m dancing with the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. Distraction can’t be helped.”

Heat blazed from her core, causing her to stumble, but he already had her tight in his grip. “Whoa, whoa. You’ve already got me, birdy. No need to throw yourself at me.”

She pulled back and swatted his shoulder. “Now you’re just being cocky.”

The heat dwindled to a simmer. Her power had come back—or maybe it was just the way Kase was looking at her.

At that moment, she didn’t care which one it was.

Kase spun her out from him and back before the song ended. They broke apart briefly to clap. Hallie ignored the looks her mother threw her way from a few feet to the right. So much for being on her side.

The song slowed once more. This time, Fely stepped up to the fiddler and lent her voice to the performance, low and rich and a little sultry.

Kase threaded his fingers through hers. “Dance with me again?” He gave her that stupid cocky grin again.

“But I’ll have you know, I’m not sharing you with anyone. ”

“That’s a little selfish, don’t you think?”

“Never.”

His hands found the curve of her waist, and Hallie joined her fingers at the back of his neck. It was torment not to stand up on the tips of her toes and kiss him, but she didn’t. Not yet. She didn’t fancy a lecture from her mother about it later.

A few more Jaydians joined, including Jove and Clara. Samuel wasn’t in sight. Probably off with Lady Davey, for it was rather late in the evening.

Hallie vaguely recognized a few of the other Jaydians from her days at the Crowne Haven Inn when they appeared with rations in their hands.

They greeted the fiddler and a few of the Yalvs.

It warmed Hallie’s heart to see it. Seemed like her work before she’d left for the Nardens was finally paying off.

Jove and Clara headed toward where Saldr stood conversing with a few other Yalven men.

A flash of blond caught her eye before her gaze turned back to Kase.

Niels. Her heart flew into her throat. He was awake and seemingly fine enough to leave the hospital ward.

Kase tightened his hands at her waist as he followed her line of sight. His eyebrows rose. “That’s a little unexpected.”

Hallie tried to shrug off the unease that entered her gut.

She was relieved he was all right, at least for now.

The ripped veil holding in his soul couldn’t be repaired—Fely had warned them it was only a matter of time before he fell back into a comatose state.

Seemed like the soul from her fire earlier in the day had done some good, though… even if a tree had to suffer for it.

Kase brushed her forearm. “Are you okay? We can go ask how he’s…Hallie?”

She shook her head, forcing a smile to smooth out the awkwardness. “No, it’s fine. I just…I wasn’t expecting him to be up so quickly. It’s a good thing.”

It was the truth, so why didn’t she feel better about it? The night had been going so well; there was no reason to let her misgivings derail it. Not that the guilt was helping, either, but that was understandable.

Looking at Niels now didn’t spark anything in her chest but concern.

She’d been as honest as she could’ve been back in the Gate chamber; with her piece said, he was free to move on, and she dearly hoped he would.

He deserved someone who would be good to him and would help him grow, just as Kase had helped Hallie.

Maybe the final gift Hallie could give him was to solve the problem with the Gate and Essences. It would allow him to live free and find his own way in the world.

Kase reached up and gently took her hands from his neck, clasping them softly. “Hals, it’s okay. Really. You can go talk with him if you’d like.”

Deep down, she knew it grated at him, because it would’ve bothered her if their positions were reversed—as detailed by their earlier argument—but he was giving her the choice.

He wasn’t letting anger or jealousy control him.

He was as steady as the stars in a clear night sky.

His soft gaze was earnest and unwavering, like tempered steel.

It was honest, vulnerable, and full of deep love.

With that silent strength and even acceptance, she didn’t know why she’d ever doubted his intentions.

The lingering storm within her heart fizzled away, blooming into a thousand butterflies in her stomach.

Sliding her hands out of his and back up his arms, tracing the muscles she’d noted earlier, she twisted a few of his curls at the nape of his neck around her finger.

She met his eyes, and her heart thumped hard in her chest. Kase’s eyes burned, and she almost didn’t get the next part out.

She took a deep breath and willed her heart and lungs to keep functioning normally.

“I love you, Kase Shackley, and there is absolutely nothing I’d rather do right now than dance with you all night long. ”

His eyes widened, his mouth dropping open in a soft ‘O’ before a slow grin unfurled on his lips.

It lit her from the inside out as he picked her up and swung her around, a few of the other dancers protesting as they nearly stumbled into them.

Hallie just laughed and lowered her mouth to Kase’s waiting lips.

A loud cough to her right pulled her away before she so much as brushed them. Kase set her down with a chuckle. Hallie turned to find her parents next to them. Her mother gave her a look, and Hallie’s cheeks flushed.

Blasted stars.

Kase just tipped his head toward her parents before sliding his hands around Hallie’s waist once more. Her father whispered something in her mother’s ear before leading her in the other direction. Of course she would’ve been hovering nearby, watching like a hawk. Hallie gave an annoyed huff.

Kase tugged her back to him with a gentle finger on her chin. “Maybe one day, I’ll get to kiss you again.”

“Maybe.” Hallie rolled her eyes, glad for the break in tension.

They lost themselves to the next dance, an upbeat jig.

It was nice just to laugh and have fun and pretend the problems that awaited were far away.

They wove through the others, spinning close to where Jove spoke with Saldr. The conversation seemed too serious for the moment, but Hallie couldn’t hear them over the music, and it would be too obvious if they paused to eavesdrop.

The conversation ended shortly afterward, and Saldr gestured for him to join the festivities. The Yalv glanced over toward Fely, who was now speaking with Niels, and Hallie just caught the fleeting annoyance that spirited across Saldr’s features.

Jove turned to Clara, who raised an eyebrow. Jove shrugged but pulled her into the dance, wearing a reserved smile even rarer than Saldr’s as he looked into his wife’s eyes.

Before she’d left for the Nardens, Hallie wasn’t sure what was to become of them—not after that disastrous dinner where Jove had gone home drunk. It hadn’t been a good night for anyone in attendance. But they seemed to be on the mend now.

Seeing Jove reminded her of something he’d said the previous day.

“So,” Hallie said, playing with the empty buttonhole at Kase’s shirt collar. “What was your brother saying about a tattoo?”

Kase nodded at Jove and Clara, the latter smiling slyly at Kase and Hallie. Kase spun her away from them. “A stupid idea.”

“It was.” Jove interrupted, apparently taking Kase’s avoidance of him to heart—he sidled closer, pulling his wife along. “The artist wasn’t exactly talent—”

Clara put a hand over his mouth. “Sorry, Kase.”

Kase’s grip on Hallie loosened as he glared at his brother. “Maybe you should turn in for the night. Jove seems a little out of sorts, though that’s no surprise.”

Jove narrowed his eyes and peeled his wife’s hand off his mouth. “Listen, if you’re trying to woo Miss Walker, surely she should know—”

Clara slapped her hand over his mouth again, but her eyes were full of laughter. “Excuse us, will you?” She turned to Jove. “Hallie is a lovely girl, and I’d hate for you to run her off.”